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Thursday, 30 June 2011

A few weeks ago I entered a giveaway at Zachaboard for a Red Charlotte baby carrier stuff sack
and look what I won, how cute is this little stuff sack.

I had intended to give it away but G saw it first and declared it was perfect for her and so it's currently home for her dolls clothes and I'm sure she'll find lots of other uses for it. So thank you Red Charlotte - lots of lovely bright stuff on her etsy shop - see link above.

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Yesterday I had a little time to myself and hit my favourite thrift shop where I found these lovely buttons, only 3 but I'm sure I'll find a good use for them.

The other night I opened a bottle of Sake and realised we had no suitably small glasses so I also got these shot glasses, being a thrift shop they only seemed to have sets of three so I bought 2 lots, the first are my favourite.

Then I couldn't resist a peek in my favourite shop - it sells homewares and a small selection of beautiful fabric-so I bought these lovely sample pieces.

Monday, 27 June 2011

Six weeks of weekly sewing lessons and I finally finished my tunic top - an Amy Butler pattern called the liverpool dress, I got the fabric from our local shop where the classes are held . Yeh - another finished project from my list. It fits well and I would say is true to size for the measurements. I made the 3/4 sleeve tunic length version.

(the sleeves are acutally the same length just hanging lop sided on the hanger)

I haven't worn it yet but tried it on to show my husband and he said " oooh its a smock - looks like it is straight out of the seventies" mmm thanks honey "acutally it's a tunic and yes it's quite a retro fabric"- anyway I'm happy and I don't listen to his fashion advice usually anyway!

Tuesday, 21 June 2011

Now I finished the Brooch Swap hosted by Flower press I am keen on another swap, I want to do another I can make - so if you see any good ones - please leave a comment so I can check it out.

Aside from swaps I have also put up the new button - from NZ with love - a craft project to make something for Japan at Christmas - check it out. Lovely Miko at msmsbliss here organised a handmade item delivery to some kids in Sendi in Japan a couple of months ago and is now organising this gift project.

I have just seen a great library bag tutorial at sew,mama,sew here which I think would make a great gift so am going to do that in the next couple of months. Miko is also organising a similar xmas gift delivery to Christchurch residents - plenty of time to get organised for both.

Monday, 20 June 2011

After a trip to the park this afternoon we had a bit of quiet time at home and we made a Plurbit.

The request was acutally for a teddy but when we looked through the book - "Softies( - 22 friends for you to knit, sew and crochet" published by Penguin.) it was this Plurbit that caught her eye so I did the sewing and G chose the colours for the felt and the threads. All up it took and hour to make and we are both happy with the finished teddy/Plurbit.

We also had time to make some Aromatic playdough that Megan at Mousehouse posted a recipe for over here for sensory play dough. It worked really well , although I did accidentally go a bit overboard on the peppermint oil so had to make another batch of that as the first was so strong it was hard to smell anything else. I used some natural colour that I found in the supermarket so the colours are subtle too and there was no blue. We used Rose oil , lavender and lemon balm as our scents.

Sunday, 19 June 2011

It's been a little quiet on the craft front here - we seem to have lots on in the weekends so apart from my weekly sewing class - making very slow progress on my Amy Butler tunic top so not much else on my machine at the moment. Today was a cold and bleak day spent in front of the fire -in need of some inspiration I went looking through photos from previous travel - I came across these ones of fabric, tiles and the 3 of silk bags for sale in Vietnam - I was given some lovely laminated fabric samples a while ago - so am off to look for a bag pattern.

Monday, 13 June 2011

When we first went to Japan in January 2010 I collected lots of stickers to make a holiday photo album for my daughter , a trip later and I collected more stickers and over this last weekend I finally finished it 18 months after the first trip so a while in the making. Not a big job but I had to do it all in the evenings when she was asleep as the stickers would have never made it to the album otherwise.
Here are a few sample pages:

It's a cheap old fashioned album I picked up in a sale and then printed matt photos with a border and used some stickers and rail passes etc so it is a simple scrap book style. You can't see them well but some of the stickers are so beautiful and 3 D , a few I also bought on etsy as I ran short . I have seen some beautiful digital albums but haven't quite got that organised - would be interested to hear which site people find most user friendly? In the mean time I am happy with our holiday record and pleased I have ticked another unfinished project off the list.

Thursday, 9 June 2011

Finally some colder weather has arrived and with it a bit more indoor time in the mornings.
We have been enjoying the following small craft and cooking :

1. Home made bread

"Busy Peoples bread" has become a firm favourite in our household, from Annabel Langbein - The free range cook. Firstly I can make it from start to finish in 1 hour - rises in the oven, 2. It takes like Vogels 3. It keeps really well, 4. It's a double recipe so is enough for us for almost 4 days.

2. Baking _ good old fashion biscuits: I just got Ladies , a Plate- traditional home baking by Alexa Johnson out of our local library and made the Spicy Crisps biscuit recipe - yum yum yum, good old fashioned baking, G loves helping and actaully can help ( well sort of it's a little messy but she did measure butter mix and do dishes - it's a great start)

3. Paper Craft : Why is that 4 year olds like to collect boxes - our house is littered by them - especially small ones. So I decide they may as well look good so we covered a large match box with pretty paper - a joint project - I cut and G glued - she is very happy with the result and now wants to cover everything within sight!

4. Chinese paper Lanterns: We were given 2 of these - balloons that you light a little impregnated cardboard underneath which heats the balloon - fantastic fun on a cold calm night- check out our This moment tomorrow.

Monday, 6 June 2011

Knitted vest - aaahhh - taking soooo long is at the point I am sick of it and would now like to stop and make something else. But since I have now finished both the back and the front only the hood to go so I feel obliged to complete it - watch this space!

We also did some jobs around home that have been waiting a while, hanging the new blind in G's bedroom and installing a new panel wall heater instead of a free standing oil column one, one very pleased little girl about the blinds - suitably pink and girly for her instead of old blue trade me curtains.

I'm pretty happy too - the fabric is made by Saffron Craig, an Australian designer which I bought from EarthGirl fabrics here, and Bolt of Cloth made it up for me here, they made a beautiful job as there is no repeat across the fabric so was hard to hide the seams as the window was wider than the fabric width. Also an extra bonus is that there is heaps of fabric left over so for cushions or something else?

The rest of the weekend was taken up with biking, walking by the river , playing with my camera and generally mucking around with a bit of inside time due to the bad weather. I read on flower press here some great photo posting and editing tips but can't seem to get my photos off flickr to my blog - apparently gives clearer images, so had to use blogger as usual - need to do a bit more reading to work this one out.